(The following short story is a reprint from Globalnook's Mother's Day edition of last year. It was written to honor mothers throughout the world on their special day.)
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Robert Allman, dressed in his best Sunday suit, sat quietly in the front seat of the family car while his wife drove.
“Now Bob, I’m going to drop you off at the corner,” the wife instructed. “Go to Waldrop's Drugs and get three roses…Two red and one white.”
“Yes, dear,” Robert replied.
“What’s the difference, mama?” little Johnny asked from the back seat.
“On Mother’s Day, you wear a red rose to church if your mother is alive,” the wife continued. “If your mother is dead, you wear a white one…. You and I will wear red. Your father will wear white.”
“Oh,” little Johnny replied thoughtfully.
The car stopped at the corner down from the drug store.
Robert started to get out.
“Dad!” little Johnny said. “Get me some jawbreakers. Two sour grape and three lemon. OK?”
The child’s father nodded then started to get out again.
“Dad!” the son called again.
The father stopped again.
“Don’t let her tell you she doesn’t have any lemon,” the son said. ”I was in there Friday morning. The lemons are in the front corner of the big candy case.”
“Ok.” the father said.
Robert started to get out again.
“Bob!” the wife summoned.
The husband stopped again.
“Tell Alma I said “Hi!”
The husband nodded and started to get out again.
“Don’t forget!” Johnny called from the back seat. “Two sour grape and three lemon… OK?”
“Ok. Ok.” The father replied impatiently. “Can I get out now?”
“Yeah… Get out! Go on!” the wife said replied, urging her husband out of car, “And hurry up. We don’t want to be late for church on Mother’s Day.
Robert got out of the car and slammed the door.
Then, after watching the car move down the street, he turned and started walking the half-block to the drug store.
“Good morning, Bob,” the clerk greeted as he walked in.
“Morning, Alma,” Robert started, “I need three roses. Two reds and one white.”
“Let me see what I have,” she said moving to the flower cooler. “The white is for you?”
Robert nodded.
“My mother is passed on too” the woman said. “I miss her so much.”
He watched as the woman searched through the bunches of roses.
“Yeah, I lost my mother nine years ago,” he replied sadly. “I’d give anything on this earth to see her again”.
“I’m sorry,” the woman said finally, “But I’m out of whites.”
He pondered for a second.
“Well…” he sighed indecisively. “Give me a red. I’ve got to wear something…. And I want some jawbreakers. Two sour grape and three lemon.”
The clerk gathered the jawbreakers and roses and handed them to her customer.
“That’ll be $3.50” she said.
Robert Allman paid the clerk.
“Thanks, Alma,” he said.
Outside on the street again, he looked at the three red roses. They were rich, fully-petaled flowers. For a moment, he wondered what his wife would think, then he started walking back down the street.
“Robert!” a voice called nearby.
He stopped and turned to the sound of the voice. Before him stood a small, elderly woman with a warm smile.
“Oh my God!” he said, jumping back in fright and staring in disbelief.
For a moment, he couldn’t speak.
“Mother!? Mom?” he gasped finally, “Is that you??!!”
“It’s me, Robert... your mother”, the woman replied quietly. “Stay calm now. I‘m just here for a little visit.”
Robert Allman still couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
“Mama, we buried you down at Fellowship Baptist nine years ago.
“Well, I’m here now. And I’m talking to my son,” the woman said calmly, taking his arm. “Come on and walk with me a ways. I don’t have long.”
For a moment, he hesitated.
“Come on!” the woman said, tugging on his arm. “Don’t be afraid. I AM your mother.”
For a brief moment, he burst out in giddy laughter. Then, just as suddenly, he stopped.
“I can’t believe it mom,” he said. “I just can’t believe it,” he said again. “Oh, God! I’m so glad to see you.”
“It’s good to see you too,” she said with a loving smile. “Now come on and walk with me."
Calmer now, forty-two-year-old Robert Allman, holding the three roses and the sack of jawbreakers, started walking down the street with the elderly woman holding his arm.
“How you been doing?” she asked. “How’s little Johnny and Clara. I’ll bet Johnny is a big boy now.”
“He’s 12.” Robert replied. “He wants everything he sees. When I growing up, I was lucky to get one jawbreaker. He has to have five, two sour grape and three lemon, no less.”
“Yeah, that’s the way you were when you were his age. I remember how you worked cutting lawns all summer to get that catcher’s mitt when you were his age.”
He looked at the woman and smiled.
“That glove was burned up in the old clubhouse we had down in the woods,” he laughed. "Me and Billy Herman had a built a fire in an old stove and went down to the creek. When we smelled the smoke, we went running back up the hill. I tried to save the mitt, but the clubhouse and the glove were already gone.”
Robert laughed out loud at the memory.
“I hadn’t thought about that for a long time,” he said.
“And Clara? Are you and her getting along?”
“Yeah,” he said finally. “We are doing okay, I guess. She’s just so bossy. She orders me around like I’m a puppy dog. But she’s a good mother to our son, so I don’t say anything.”
“How’s she doing with the diabetes?”
“Oh, she’s fine,” he answered. “If she takes her insulin, she’s fine. We always keep orange juice in the fridge in case of emergencies.”
“You look good, Robert,” the woman said. “You look healthy and happy with yourself."
“Oh, I feel good, mama. I love my job at the plumbing supply. I’ve been doing it a while.”
“Are you saving any of it?”
“I’m trying, mama. I’ve got a retirement plan at work, we own the house on Chestnut Street now and Clara is talking about opening a savings bond account at her work.”
“That’s good,” the woman said. “No matter what they say about money, in times of trouble it can’t be beat. Money gives you freedom. You don’t want to be broke in this day and age.”
The two walked quietly.
“When was the last time you were at the old homeplace down at Oakwood?”
“Oh, it’s been a while, mama," he replied. “You know the gas company bought that land six or seven years ago. Right where the old house used to stand there is a big tank that holds natural gas.
“Me and your daddy built that house when you were five," she reminisced. "I remember my cousin Alvin came over to help us dig out of the tree roots so we could lay the foundation. I handed the concrete blocks up to your daddy one at a time," she said with a sigh. "I guess nothing stays the same...."
The two walked quietly.
“What about your sister Edna? Is she OK?”
“I don’t know,” he replied. “ I don't know where she is. After the estate was settled, she met up with a lawyer over in Reedsville and she said they were going up to St. Louis. I haven’t heard from her in five, maybe six years…. She never wrote… she never called....”
The mother didn't reply at first.
“I hope that wherever she is she’s happy, healthy and at peace with herself…,” she said finally.
Robert Allman looked at his mother and said nothing.
The two walked quietly. They were nearing the corner where he was due to meet his wife.
“When was the last time you cleaned off your daddy’s grave?”
He stopped and drew a deep breath.
“Now mama, you know me and daddy never got along,” he said. “He never had time for me. He was always busy with work and his friends and everything else but me. You know that.”
“That doesn’t matter,” he said. "He’s still your father.”
He turned quickly to his mother.
“Mama! You know that YOU were the one I loved. It was your arms I ran to. It was your bosom that I clung to. It was your voice that soothed me in times on trouble. It was you I went to when I was hurting or hungry or needed support. It was YOUR arms where I felt warmth and comfort and support and love….”
He stopped for a moment.
The woman looked at her son sympathetically, saying nothing.
“Then, as I grew older,” the son continued, “Other arms reached out to hold me…….”
Suddenly, realizing what he had said, he stopped, overcome with emotion.
He looked as his mother and his eyes began to fill with tears.
They stopped walking. The mother turned to face her son.
“It’s OK, Robert,” the mother said consolingly, reaching up and taking the much larger man into her small arms. "It's okay, baby.... It's okay, baby... everything will be all right."
For a brief moment, the two hugged one another tightly.
"Mama..... I've missed you so much...," he said, clinging tightly to the woman.
"I know, baby.... I know," she replied.
"I've always loved you so, so much" he said.
"I know, baby," she said. "I know."
Finally, the woman broke the embrace.
“I’m so glad to see you, mom,” he said tearfully. “I've missed you so much.”
“And I've missed you too....” she replied. "But that's the way life is....."
Then she stepped back from her son.
“Well...," she said. "I’ve got to go now.”
“Go!!??...” he asked, a frantic tone in his voice. “Where are you going?”
“Oh, I’ve got to go back...,” she said. “They only let me come for a visit.”
“But…but…”, he said.
“Bye, Robert…” the woman said sadly. “I love you.”
Then, as Robert Allman watched helplessly, the woman walked quickly to the building at the corner and turned up the street.
“Mom! Mother!” he yelled frantically. “Mom! Mom!” he yelled again.
Desperately, he ran to the corner and looked up the street.
The street was empty.
He looked around frantically. He looked across the street and back down the street toward the drug store. The woman was nowhere to be seen. Then, holding the sack of candy in one hand and the roses in the other, he put his hands to his face and began sobbing. Then he fell to his knees and sobbed uncontrollably for several seconds. Then he suddenly realized where he was. Instantly, he stood up. He took out his handkerchief and wiped his eyes. He straightened his tie. He looked down at his dress pants. There was gravel and dirt at the knees. He hastily dusted them off. He inspected the roses. They were fine. Then he took a deep breath and looked up the street. He could see the family car approaching.
The car stopped. The son already had the car’s back window rolled down and was reaching for the candy. Robert handed the bag to his son then got into the car.
“Oh, no!!” the wife said disappointedly upon seeing the roses.
"Alma didn’t have any more whites....,” he explained.
“So what are we going to do?” the wife asked.
“We’ll just have to play like daddy’s mama is alive today,” little Johnny suggested.
“What?!” the mother asked.
“Let dad wear the red rose like his mother is alive….,” the son said decisively. “What’s wrong with that?”
“Well, it IS kind of tacky…” she said thoughtfully. “But since that’s all we’ve got…. Ok,” she said finally, “I guess the red will have to do….”
In the back seat, Johnny opened the bag of jawbreakers.
“Wow, Dad!” the son said excitedly, looking inside. “That’s exactly what I wanted. You did great!”
“Yeah” the father said with a smile, “I DID do pretty good!”
With that, the father looked back at his son and laughed out loud.
“Ok, you two,” the woman said sternly, “Y’all hush up so I can drive. We don’t want to be late for church on Mother’s day.”
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